This is an ambitious and wide-ranging biography of Erasmus of Rotterdam, one of the most famous Renaissance humanists. In part a riveting narrative account of the philosopher's journeys from his monastery to service with a great Burgundian bishop, and from there to Paris, England the Low Countries and Switzerland, this comprehensive and definitive biography also looks at the history of ideas in which Erasmus played a vital role. Covering the formative years of Erasmus the humanist, this new study makes full (...) analyses of all his early writings, ncluding his Letters, his contributions to Renaissance dialogue and essay, and particularly his Adagia, the colloquies, and the Praise of Folly. After years of intensive research, and in an area which is essentially multidisciplinary, Professor Schoeck brings together serious historical, literary, theological and philosophical study in a unique way. (shrink)

An enquiry into plant consciousness requires, on the one hand, taking into account recent experiments in plant biology and, on the other hand, refining the theoretical framework of behaviour and the various degrees of cognition. The main goal of this contribution is to advance such a framework by comparing classical animal and human cognition approaches with the theories of minimal cognition. This leads us to interpret more carefully the various plant activities and to highlight the limits of classical theories of (...) zoocentric cognition. In particular, the article shows that the notions of cognition and consciousness are often abusively confused, and with that of behaviour. Once this ambiguity is removed, it is possible to better distinguish several meanings of consciousness and to evaluate their relevance to plant activities. (shrink)

Despite a lack of formal university schooling in textual scholarship or in Renaissance studies, Helen Allen became a co-worker and co-editor with Percy Allen in the preparation of the great edition of the letters of Erasmus. Thanks to training she had received from her husband, she herself was largely responsible for the choices in Sir Thomas More, Selections, and the Allens together worked on the notes and glossary.